Fox's Megyn Kelly now notes some ACORN workers "did the right thing"

During a segment on the fallout from the undercover ACORN videos, Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly noted on September 22 that "it appears that not every ACORN worker did go along with it" and that "as ACORN pointed out when this thing first broke, some of their workers did the right thing." But during a September 16 segment on ACORN, Kelly suggested that the entire organization should be punished and ignored that a Philadelphia ACORN worker contacted the police, even though that information had been reported elsewhere, including on CNN on September 11.

Kelly noted police in California say ACORN worker called them after encounter with filmmakers

From the September 22 edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom:

KELLY: This is starting to happen, folks. We are seeing the Department of Justice and other federal agencies crack down on this group after so many had asked for action in Washington.

And speaking of this tape, by the way, it appears that not every ACORN worker did go along with it. ACORN had been saying that the purported pimp and prostitute had failed in certain offices to actually convince the ACORN workers for help, and police in California say one ACORN worker at one office out there did, in fact, contact them after the filmmakers approached him about this human smuggling ring, or this trafficking ring. That worker realizing several days later that the whole thing was a hoax, but as ACORN pointed out when this thing first broke, some of their workers did the right thing.

Kelly asked: "Will the House step up and crack down on this group?" During a segment on the ACORN tapes, Kelly stated, "Well, in the wake of the first few tapes, the U.S. Census Bureau finally decided to cut ties with ACORN," adding, "Then, on Monday, the Senate voted 83 to 7 to stop ACORN's access to certain federal funds. And the question is now: Will the House step up and crack down on this group? Not enough to have the Senate. House has got to do it, too." [America's Newsroom, 9/16/09]

Kelly let Rove call ACORN "a remarkable criminal enterprise." Fox News contributor Karl Rove told Kelly, "[Y]ou know, the Democrat Party, House Democrats in particular, are dependent upon the voter registration efforts of ACORN and the political muscle of this group, and so we'll see how many -- we did have seven Democrats, including a member of the leadership, Dick Durbin of Illinois, vote against defunding ACORN, denying them access to Housing and Urban Development funds. We'll see. It's a remarkable criminal enterprise, isn't it?" [America's Newsroom, 9/16/09]

Kelly ignored reports that Philadelphia ACORN worker contacted police. On the September 11 edition of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight, correspondent Bill Tucker reported that "ACORN gave CNN a copy of the police complaint filed against the filmmakers In Philadelphia." On September 17, Media Matters for Americaposted an image of the police report. Katherine Conway Russell, director of ACORN Housing Corp.'s Philadelphia office, said she told the filmmakers, "[T]here was nothing we could do to help them, that I didn't know anything about what they were asking about." Russell has also said that after she contacted another ACORN official and it became clear that O'Keefe "lied to get his appointment," they contacted the police.

Transcript

From the September 22 edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom:

KELLY: "Fox News Alert": And a new hammer comes down on ACORN, the left-wing community organization group. The Justice Department -- the Justice Department -- will now launch an investigation related to this group. After all these months of people pushing, it's going to happen. The inspector general of the DOJ wants to know if ACORN applied for or received any federal grant money illegally or under false pretenses.

That is after a pair of filmmakers posing as a pimp and a prostitute taped several ACORN workers in several different cities giving them advice on how to evade the law: "Want to set up a child brothel?" "No problem." "Want to still get government funds to set up that brothel and then avoid income taxes?" "Let us help you." That's what we saw on those tapes.

Other agencies, such as the Department of Housing and Urban Development and FEMA are being asked to review ACORN requests for money as well -- this as the U.S. House has voted to cut off all funding, as the U.S. Senate has voted to cut off at least part of its funding, as the U.S. Census Bureau has cut ties with ACORN in connection with the next census. This is starting to happen, folks. We are seeing the Department of Justice and other federal agencies crack down on this group after so many had asked for action in Washington.

And speaking of this tape, by the way, it appears that not every ACORN worker did go along with it. ACORN had been saying that the purported pimp and prostitute had failed in certain offices to actually convince the ACORN workers for help, and police in California say one ACORN worker at one office out there did, in fact, contact them after the filmmakers approached him about this human smuggling ring, or this trafficking ring. That worker realizing several days later that the whole thing was a hoax, but as ACORN pointed out when this thing first broke, some of their workers did the right thing.

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